International scientific seminar "St. Petersburg - Ukraine" in the framework of imagology as a practice of intercultural understanding

the authors present fifteen years of their experience (2000–2015) of organizing and participating in international seminars «St. Petersburg – Ukraine» devoted to mutual influence and interpenetration of Slavic cultures. The paper considers a permanent seminar as a form of international scientific cooperation in the context of imagology, a field of humanities related to the study of «the image of the Other» in social and cultural consciousness. The article describes the themes of the seminars, statistical data on the participants and analyzes main scientific, cultural-educational, and practical results. The following results are revealed: development of an interdisciplinary humanities discourse addressing the problems of interaction between Slavic cultures; discovery of new historical facts and research directions in the field of cross-cultural relationships between the Slavic peoples and world nations which remove perception stereotypes; description of past situations that are perceived by contemporaries as historical paradoxes due to the lack of knowledge of the realities linking different nationalities and cultures; integrated development of the theme «St. Petersburg and Ukraine». The article also gives the examples of publishing and exhibition activities as well as diverse social activities in the field of intercultural interaction between representatives of Russia, Ukraine and other countries implemented through the seminars. In addition to that, the authors mention tension that has been arising lately between historically similar cultures. The authors consider intercultural relations in the system of scientific communication and informal education as a way to promote tolerance. The article may be of interest to specialists in the field of comparative cultural studies, the history of the Slavic peoples, to researchers who study St. Petersburg and the literary heritage of T. Shevchenko, as well as to those involved in diplomatic services.